by Kyle Stults on July 09, 2011
Jules Verne Inspired “Poetic Complication”…
The wonderful “ONLY Watch” you see here was conceived and brought to this world by Van Cleef & Arpels. Named ”From the Earth to the Moon”, this unique piece will be auctioned in September at the ONLY Watch 2011 charity auction that I have been previewing for several weeks now (see all my ONLY Watch 2011 Previews HERE). On the dial you will see a fantastical space theme, executed with inlays of jade, agate, meteorite and champlevé-style enamel. The space capsule indicates the retrograde minutes. Positioned on the right of the dial, it sweeps downwards, from zero to sixty. It then returns to its starting point after the sixtieth minute. On the left side of the dial, a star indicates the hours, in an upward movement. It returns to its starting point after the twelfth hour.
The Van Cleef & Arpels Poetic Complication From the Earth to the Moon watch is equipped with the JLC Caliber 846 manual-wind mechanical movement with a special retrograde module developed exclusively for Van Cleef & Arpels.
Van Cleef & Arpels “From the Earth to the Moon” For ONLY WATCH 2011
Unique Piece
Van Cleef & Arpels describes the watch as follows:
A distant star symbolizes the element of luck which is essential in order to accomplish one’s destiny. The rocket, imagined by Jules Verne, races towards the Milky Way, leaving behind it the greens and blues of mountains and oceans which have become tiny. The spaceship continues on its course to the moon, propelled by the energy of the retrograde movement. It even dodges meteorites.
Poetic complication…
Why not dream a little dream today with “Five Weeks In a Balloon”, a new piece that Van Cleef & Arpels will show at SIHH 2011 in Geneva (January 2011). The watch is reportedly inspired by world famous fiction author Jules Verne and his Extraordinary Voyages novel of the same name. While many of Verne’s voyages are quite famous (Around the World in Eighty Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, etc.), Five Weeks In A Balloon was the first one…penned in 1863 (translated to Engligh in 1869).
The dial of this watch is decorated with champlevé enamel (looks nice, whatever the technique) and inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The scene depicts a hot air ballon rising into the air of Zanzibar. The hours and minutes are indicated by the retograde movement of the balloon’s anchor and a bird in flight. Kinda cool, eh!
Van Cleef & Arpel Five Weeks In a Balloon
White gold case, chamlevé enamel and mother-of-pearl, retrograde hours and minutes, engraved caseback, alligator strap with white gold buckle
the inspiration…
a closer look at the dial…
